Case Report

Pneumothorax - A Rare Complication Of Laparosocpic Total Extraperitoneal Hernia Repair.

Rege Sameer¹, Arora Amandeep¹, Surpam S¹, Kotak N², Patel Rd²

Introduction: A 45 year old male patient undergoing bilateral Total extraperitoneal inguinal hernia repair developed

hypotension with a fall in oxygen saturation about 20 minutes into the procedure. He was diagnosed to have right sided pneumothorax which was treated with an intercostal drainage tube. The patient had no surgical emphysema or pneumoperitoneum. Patient had an uneventful recovery.

Keywords: Pneumothorax, total extraperitoneal repair.

International Journal of Surgical Cases 2015 July-Sep: 1(1):Page 23-24

Abstract

1 Department of General Surgery, Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, Mumbai-12

² Department of Anaesthesiology, Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, Mumbai-12.

Address of Correspondence

Dr Sameer Ashok Rege

Department of Surgery,

Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, parel, Mumbai-12

Email: samrege@yahoo.com

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This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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IntroductionLaparoscopic inguinal hernia repair is being performed with increasing frequency. Decreased postoperative patient pain and quicker return to normal activity are potential advantages associated with laparoscopic hernia repair. Also, TEP repair is being preferred to the transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) repair. (1,2)Pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema are unexpected complications of extraperitoneal hernia repair. Longer duration of the procedure with high preperitoneal insufflations pressures have been proposed to be the possible causes of the complication.

Case ReportA 45 year old male with bilateral inguinal hernia with no comorbid conditions was admitted for laparoscopic extraperitoneal repair. Patient had an uneventful intubation with 8.5F endotracheal tube with equal air entry on both sides. In supine position with Trendelenburg's position, the extraperitoneal space was accessed with an open technique with 10mm port in sub-umbilical area. The CO2 pressure was kept at 12 mmHg and the flow rate was kept at 3 lit/min. Another 5mm port was place in the midline and space was created on the right side and 5mm port was placed in right lumbar region. Patient had hypotension of 88 mmHg systolic with normal eTCO2 and increased ventilator peak airway pressure. SaO2% dropped to 88%. On auscultation, there was no air entry on the right side. A needle

thoracostomy was done with a gush of air. Patient was hyperventilated without nitrous oxide, and the vitals of the patient improved with SaO2% to 100%. Diagnosis of pneumothorax was made and intercostal tube was placed in 5th intercostal space.The procedure was completed after lowering the CO2 pressure to 10 mmHg in next 25 mins. There was no major bleeding or peritoneal breach or surgical emphysema noted on abdominal or the chest wall. Post procedure, patient was extubated, however was observed in intensive care unit for 8 hours. The intercostal drainage had no air leak in postoperative period and was removed on day 2 and patient was discharged on day 3.An immediate post op chest X-ray had showed a small (<1cm) pneumothorax and no pneumoperitoneum which was consistent with no peritoneal breach during the surgery.

DiscussionLaparoscopic TEP repair is a favoured procedure for bilateral and recurrent inguinal hernias due to low recurrence rate, a reduced risk of intra-abdominal infection or contamination, and damage to the intra-abdominal organs and adhesions, as compared with laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal hernia repair or an open procedure. It also causes less postoperative pain with early return to activity.(1,2)Common intraoperative complications of TEP include surgical emphysema, pneumoperitoneum, pneumoscrotum. In general anaesthesia, patients can develop pneumothorax due to barotrauma or ruptured emphysematous bullae or injury to the trachea or any central

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Amandeep

line procedures and should be ruled out. Pnuemothorax though reported ,is a rare complication encountered during TEP as the CO2 insufflation is limited only to the extraperitoneal space (3-7). Though the dissection is in the extraperitoneal space, various theories have been proposed. Ferzli et al have suggested the entry of CO2 from the retroperitoneal space to pleural space and the neck, which can lead to pnuemothorax and surgical emphysema in the neck (3). Shim et al have reported pneumothorax during retroperitoneal nephrectomy with high Co2 pressures of 15mmHg (8). However in our patient, the pressure was maintained to 12 mmHg with flow rate of 3 lit/min. CO2 traversing the congenital diaphragmatic defects or along the aortic or esophageal defects or Bochdaleck's foramen after an accidental peritoneal breach has been proposed by Browne et al (5), however our patient did not have any pneumoperitoneum.Pneumothorax is usually diagnosed with respiratory distress and breathlessness which is difficult to diagnose in an intubated patient. However, sudden tachycardia, hypotension, hypercapnia with increased ventilatory pressure and decreased air entry on the side may be helpful in diagnosing pneumothorax intraoperatively. Intercostal drainage is not mandatory, but a safer approach since, if the vitals are stable, the CO2 gets diffused within 60 minutes from the tissues. With suspicion of the diagnosis, the CO2 insufflation should be stopped. The nitrous oxide ventilation should be discontinued with hyperventilation. If vitals are maintained the procedure may be continued with decreased CO2 pressures of 10 mmhg. Most of the patients may not require postoperative ventilation, however Joris et al have suggested elective ventilation with elevated positive end expiratory pressure for intraoperative pneumothorax than a tube thoracostomy (9).The actual incidence of this complication is unknown because postoperative chest radiographs are not and should not be routine after

any type of hernia repair. In the situation in which an asymptomatic patient is found to have a pneumothorax, deviation from routine postoperative care is not necessary. However in the symptomatic patient, observation and appropriate monitoring is strongly recommended.Once the condition is diagnosed intraoperatively, CO2 insufflation should be stopped or reduced. Nitric oxide should be discontinued and hyperventilation should be performed. Placement of an intercostals drainage tube is not necessar y unless the patient becomes hemodynamically unstable or if the respiration is compromised (10). Otherwise careful monitoring is all that is necessary.CO2 is spontaneously lost in most cases in 30 to 60 minutes following the release of the gas (11).

ConclusionPneumothorax is a rare complication of laparoscopic TEP repair, which potentially prolongs hospital stay and thereby increases total costs. The incidence of this complication is only going to increase in the future. Shorter operative duration and lower (10mm Hg) insufflations pressure can help prevent this. We should be aware of this complication to recognize it early in case of an unexplained hemodynamic and respiratory collapse during the surgery. Prompt diagnosis and suitable management can prevent any serious problems.

Clinical MessageDouble tunnel technique is an isometric reconstruction of Medial Patello-femoral ligament & is more functionally anatomical than single tunnel technique as it has a wider insertion on patella. It has a low cost as no anchors are required in patella & this technique can be used with equal effectiveness in congenital as well as acquired deficiencies.

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International Journal of Surgical Cases | Volume 1 | Issue 1 | July-Sep 2015 | Page 23-24

Rege S et al

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Conflict of Interest: Nil Source of Support: None

How to Cite this Article

Rege S, Arora A, Surpam S, Kotak N, Patel Rd. Pneumothorax - A Rare Complication

Of Laparosocpic Total Extraperitoneal Hernia Repair. International Journal of

Surgical Cases 2015 July-Sep;1(1): 23-24.